Ron Garrow ('70), Ruth (Burden) Earley ('70), Elaine (Pearson) Montgomery,

Karen Olander Ferguson ( '66), Ron Bishop ('68)

Ron Garrow (class of ‘70): Some of my memories include us three amigos (Dal Tucker, Ben Bernales and Ron Garrow) working at the Officer’s Club on the Navy Base, serving and waiting tables on the weekends. If anyone came back into the kitchen with any steak, he was mobbed by the other two for a piece of it. After hours, the cook would sometimes cook us a lobster or steak. The officers were pretty good with the gratuities. I also remember the bar tender would let me serve drinks to the officers in the bar while he took a break. No child labor laws back then. Now that you mention it, Ben, yes I remember the making of that movie. I was too old to make the football team on the Navy side, so I helped with practices but never played. Ben - you still have that grin (as Dal Tucker would put it)? The Navy dependent’s softball team could keep up with the sailor teams pretty well. I played third base. Tucker played short stop.

Ruth (Burden) Earley (class of ‘70): I attended K.H.S. from 1964 - 1966 and would have been in the class of 1970 had I been lucky enough to have stayed longer. Some of you may have known my brother Bruce, who graduated in 1966. Our last name was Burden, we lived the other side of the Island by the Navy Base. One of my favorite memories is rafting in Elys harbor by Somerset Bridge. The raft was a two person raft and for a girl with her first major crush, it was perfect. The smell of cedar and oleander in the air. It just doesn’t get any better. Lazy, hazy days of summer. We also used to dive off Somerset Bridge though it was strictly prohibited.

Elaine (Pearson) Montgomery: We arrived on the “stupid rock” (as us kids had called it the first few weeks of living there) on November 3, 1965. Our first place was an upstairs apartment in Spanish Point. Just about every night us kids would take flashlights and our shoes/slippers to bed with us so as not wake up to the roaches (Palmetto bugs) running across the floor or in our shoes!! We wanted off that “stupid rock.” We never had to deal with any kind of bugs like this before!! But during the Christmas holiday…we got the chance to go swimming and that changed our minds QUICKLY about ever wanting to leave!! We came from New Hampshire…so to have the “luxury” of swimming in the middle of winter…well…that just beat all!! But, I think the one memory that really sticks out is the one time when my sister, Carol and her boyfriend, John Mosher…my boyfriend (a local Bermudian) Benjamin Estrella and I went sailing on John’s sail boat. We WERE supposed to just stay in the harbor because of the boat being so small…there was no way it could handle the current. So after sailing around in St. George’s harbor for a while…we decided to venture over to the opening. Then suddenly the wind started taking us out of the harbor, along with the help of the current. For what was to be a couple of hours sailing…turned into HOURS of trying to get BACK in to the harbor. We sure were tired once we made it back. Since the boat had NO small motor to help us out. I think there was only one oar on board too. Our tour of duty ended August 20, 1970 and we ended up stationed in Youngstown Air Force Reserve Base in Vienna, Ohio. I sure do miss what ended up becoming the BEST five years of my life!! Something I will ALWAYS remember and cherish. PLUS, ALL the friends I made while there!! My parents were lucky enough to get stationed back there from 1978 - 1983. I had the chance to go back over to visit like 4 or 5 times during their second tour of duty there.

Karen Olander Ferguson (Class of ‘66): The base Commander’s daughter, Jane Pogue, had a slumber party. She invited about 10 girls and we all were very excited and personally, I was flattered that I was invited to the Commander’s house. Less that a week before the party, Jane was all upset because her parents told her that 10 girls was too many and she had to cut the list. She told her parents that she cut me and Chris O’brien (now Swim) - but we weren’t really cut - we just had to arrive after her parents left for a party and then leave before sunup in the morning. Easy enough to do. We all went to the party and had a blast. Of course several guys showed up at the window sometime during the night and I just knew heads were going to roll - but everything was cool. A couple of the girls sneaked outside to talk to the guys and they eventually left. Sometime during the night, all of us went outside to the ball field that was below the house. There we acted like wild girls, screaming and hollering and eventually got poor Leanne Sander on the ground and removed her slacks and threw them up on the fence. Being the stupendous athlete she was (and my very best friend) we got the pants down and she quickly put them back on and we all ran laughing back to the house before someone called the AP’s to us. Daybreak arrived and Chris and I climbed out the window and quietly ran over to my bike. I got Chris home and made it to my house right at sunrise. Dad was already up and wondered why I was home so early. I told him I just didn’t get any sleep at the party (which I didn’t) and I crawled in my bed for a few hours rest. Sometime during that week Mom saw Mrs. Pogue at the commissary and told her what a nice time I had at the slumber party! Mrs. Pogue didn’t ask which daughter I was and I guess she assumed Janie wouldn’t lie to her, so she just told my Mom that she and Commander Pogue were just glad that Jane had so many friends that could come! When my Mom told me what had happened, I nearly peed my pants but had to act like it was perfectly fine that she let the Commander’s wife know I was there! It all turned out well, but to my knowledge, Jane never had another party while I was there - maybe the neighbors saw all of us out on the ball field traipsing around under the lights, or maybe her parents found the wine bottles and ciggy butts in the trash - or maybe even the grass was torn up under the windows from the late night visitors - who knows. It was one night I will never forget - stepped right outside of my “always obey” box and did something harmless and fun!

Ron Bishop (Class of ’68): (Regarding a “Cover Girl” commercial, taken place in Bermuda) The model in the ad was Lucy Angle. I have a little story behind the ad. One day when I got home from school, a neighbor across the street from my home in Paget called me and asked if I would be interested in appearing in a Cover Girl commercial. Of course I jumped at the chance and got the contact info. I was to get several of my buddies from school (Frank, Bob and Matt) who also would like to try out. We met at the Elbow Beach Club where Polaroid photos were taken of us to see how photogenic we were. Those that were, were told to report back in a couple of days when we’d begin shooting. The opening sequence was early morning on Elbow Beach…sun just coming up. Lucy was in the middle front of a group of guys. The camera had a tight shot on her and her line was “What’s so good about Cover Girl makeup?…EVERYTHING! When she said “EVERYTHING,” the camera opened wide to catch the guys, the beach and the beautiful sunrise. It was a fun time. Lucy and I had a scene where we were walking across Castle Harbor Golf Course…hand in hand. I didn’t have any lines…she just looked back at the camera and smiled. I remember Bob Barber had a scene with her where he was kicking a football. We got out of school for 3 days and I remember being paid $125! I saw the commercial on American Bandstand in the fall of ’68. Anyway, back to the ad…Several days later, the same lady asked if I would find some high school girls who wanted to be in a Noxema ad in Seventeen magazine. I got the info again and asked a number of girls if they would be interested. Guess who was popular that week? The first girl I mentioned it to was Anita Frazier. The next year I was in boot camp and she sent me some photos where she had gone on to do some modeling. I was saddened to hear of her passing. I never did get to see the ad, so I’d love to have a copy or at least know what issue of “Seventeen” it appeared in.

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